A highly interesting sort of sexual prequel (in that a case has been tried and a man convicted) to the current screaming headlines about shoddy care of wounded military and veterans has taken place near Eglin Air Force Base in warm, steamy Florida.The convicted man, Devery L. Taylor, is a 38-year-old Air Force captain and former chief of patient administration at Eglin Regional Hospital.According to Forbes.com:

Military prosecutors described Taylor as a serial rapist who met men in bars, spiked their drinks with the "date-rape drug" gamma-hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, and kidnapped them.

Captain Taylor, according to the International Herald Tribune, was convicted Tuesday and sentenced yesterday "to 50 years in prison for two counts of attempted sodomy, four counts of forcible sodomy, two counts of kidnapping and one count of unlawful entry":

Taylor's court-martial jury found him guilty of all charges against him for drugging and kidnapping servicemen and others he met in bars...Each of the six men testified during the nine-day court-martial and said they drank with Taylor at bars, later felt drugged and were assaulted by him. Two of the men are Air Force officers… Sheriff's deputies in August charged another man with helping Taylor rape one of the six victims on March 23.

It sounds as though Capt. Taylor had a rather busy social schedule...one that may have detracted from official duties as chief of patient administration with the 96th Medical Group which, according to an on line brochure at United-Publishers.com:

Provides comprehensive medical care to approximately 83,000 eligible beneficiaries (active-duty military members, retirees, and their families)… The 96th Medical Group provides a wide variety of outpatient services and presently supports one of the larger outpatient workloads in the Air Force.

Facts in the reporting of this case, per my morning Googling, are scattered hither and yon across a swath of media…Typical when the accumulated facts could form an even nastier picture.

Unlike certain unnamed civilian public officials, I’ve personally engaged in a bit of tongue-tying restraint when it comes to blogging about things military over the entirety of this blog; open access publishing born in my personal frustration with US leadership, military and media at the start of this insane, politically-motivated Bush pre-emption.But, within that restraint, I have hinted about the possibility of domestic political and war theater security breaches.Clearly this morning’s “direct attack”, a Taleban winkle described as “rare” and “huge” by eye witnesses, on the main and “most heavily guarded” US Afghan base during an unannounced Vice Presidential visit suggests the odd Allied “secure” phone could actually be an alQaeda party line.According to the BBC:

The Taleban said they carried out the attack and that the attacker was trying to get to Mr. Cheney, who was on an unannounced visit to the region.

If recent history is to be our guide, Team Bush’s next inexplicable push-me-pull-you response to the Cheney assassination attempt will be either another crack down on the already eroded domestic “freedoms” of ordinary American citizens or enhanced funding to alQaeda-related Iraqi insurgents.